I've been testing the P3 < URL:http://www.elecraft.com/news.htm > for a while now, and it has a really nice feature for Digital Modes that my other panadapter solutions lack.
The P3 has a SPAN control. This sets the width of the spectrum display in kHz. When looking at a busy band, for example during last weekend's contest, this made it pretty easy to spot activity on a relatively quiet band (15m) or a hole on a very busy busy band (20m). This isn't much different than other panadapters, just more convenient. However, let's say you decide to operate a digital mode, such as PSK 31. Dial down the SPAN to ± 3 kHz. Suddenly, the display looks like the usual "waterfall" you are accustomed to when using DM780, MIXW, MultiPSK, CocoaModem, etc. You can easily distinguish individual signals, and see the modulation on them. It is extremely simple to then set the marker on a signal, tap the control to re-tune, then then tap the SPOT button on the K3 to get it nailed. You are now ready for a QSO using PSK-D mode. This same feature is also very useful when operating RTTY. Further, the P3 lets you see nearby signals in fine detail even when you have the K3's dual passband feature turned on. Use of such narrow filtering on the K3 restricts the usual waterfall display on the DM780 or MMTTY console, for example. And, the P3 doesn't consume PC screen real estate. The reason this works so well with the P3 is that as you adjust the SPAN, the P3 automatically adjusts its internal filters, sampling rates and calculations to effectively utilize the display width. If you use the ZOOM control on PowerSDR with LP-PAN, for example, you just get a much coarser display as you zoom in because the sampling rate for the soundcard being used with PowerSDR doesn't automatically adjust as you change displayed bandwidth. If it did, it has limited rate selections depending on the soundcard being used and its drivers. Since the P3 hardware is purpose-built from the outset to be a panadapter rather than a general spectrum display or a soundcard, it does not have these limitations. 73, Lyle KK7P Disclaimer: I work for Elecraft. ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
